How low can Joe go?
A new Gallup survey shows that President Joe Biden has not hit bottom yet in his polling freefall.
The survey service said the president has plummeted 13 points since June, now sitting at a dismal 43% approval rating, the lowest of his presidency.
Worse, said Gallup, “For the first time, a majority, 53%, now disapproves of Biden’s performance.”
The survey was taken after the failed Afghanistan withdrawal that left many Americans behind, an event condemned by the nation in multiple other surveys.
“The latest drop in Biden’s job approval score is the second significant decline since June. Biden’s honeymoon ratings near 55% first faltered in July, falling to 50% amid rising COVID-19 cases caused largely by the delta variant. In Gallup’s Aug. 2-17 poll, Biden’s rating was essentially unchanged, at 49%,” said the service.
Biden took his biggest hit from independents.
But he is still ahead of the 37% approval rating that former President Donald Trump suffered at this stage.
Out of the headlines for a while, Vice President Kamala Harris has steadied her polling, and now the nation is split on her job, 49% approving, 49% not. She sits exactly where Biden did in 2009, his first year as former President Barack Obama’s vice president.
The poor showing of Biden and Harris is starting to make Democrats nervous as they brace for the 2022 midterm elections and as voters in Virginia and New Jersey prepare to vote for their governors in November.
The Gallup bottom line: “Biden’s latest approval rating further cements the fact that the honeymoon phase of his presidency is behind him. Political independents, who were part of the coalition that helped him defeat Trump in 2020, now largely disapprove of the job he is doing as president.”
